1. Field
Aspects of embodiments of the present invention relate to a battery module including a plurality of battery cells.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, secondary batteries are designed to be repeatedly charged and reused, unlike primary batteries which are only designed to be discharged.
Secondary batteries can be used as an energy source (e.g., a power source) for a mobile device, an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, an electric bicycle, an uninterruptible power supply, and the like. Depending on the type of external device, secondary batteries may be employed as a single battery or as a battery module including multiple batteries coupled to each other and bundled in one unit.
Small mobile device, such as a cell phone, may operate for a certain amount of time according to an output and capacity of a single battery. If high powered operation is required over a long period of time, such as for an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, and the like, a battery module may be used to provide sufficient output and capacity.
In a large capacity battery module, multiple battery cells (e.g., 8P, 12P, 20P, and the like) may be connected to each other in parallel. An anode of the battery cells may be welded to a nickel tab. However, when one or more of the battery cells of the battery module is defective (e.g., needs to be replaced), the entire battery module may need to be discarded because replacement of only the defective cell(s) is not easy.